The number of consumer products that contain polymers continues to increase every day. As such, there is a growing need to develop polymers that can be used to form better-suited products for consumers. Industry is concerned with developing specialized polymers for uses that require a unique set of properties. For example, vehicle interiors, such as interior trim components and dashboards, require a combination of rigidity for structural integrity and compressibility for minimizing injury from passenger impact over a temperature range.
To meet such specialized needs, a special class of polypropylene polymers has been developed termed “impact copolymers” (ICP). Impact copolymers may also be referred to as block copolymers or heterophasic copolymers. Polypropylene impact copolymers are useful in applications requiring high impact resistance and high rigidity. Furthermore, polypropylene impact copolymers have the advantage of using common processing methods such as injection molding or extrusion. Nevertheless, there is a continuing demand for more specialized compositions with properties suited to specific applications.